There's always a winner and a loser in the NHL, and this is a new nightly look at some of the winners and losers in the biggest games and biggest situations across the league.

Winners

Tomas Vincour and the Dallas Stars: Dallas went into Thursday's game against San Jose holding a three-point lead in the Pacific Division over the suddenly slumping -- and fading -- Sharks. The one thing the Sharks had going for them was the fact that they had games in hand, as wel as three remaining meetings with the Stars. All of that only matters, of course, if the Sharks find a way to get into the win column again, and they fell short of that once again as the Stars found a way to scratch and claw out another win, beating San Jose in a shootout, 4-3.

It was probably the game of the night in terms of entertainment, and after San Jose took the lead, 3-2, with less than four minutes to play in regulation, Tomas Vincour scored the game-tying goal for the Stars on a goal that cleared the goal line behind Antti Niemi by, oh, let's say about an inch, sending the game to overtime.

The Stars had to kill off a 4-on-3 power play in the extra period, and ended up picking up the extra point in the standings thanks to Vincour's goal -- the only one in the shootout -- in the fifth-round.

With the win, the Stars now hold a four-point lead in the Division race. The two teams will meet two more times this season and the Sharks still have two games in hand, but again, sooner or later they have to start winning some of these games.

Washington Capitals: Say this for the Capitals -- they certainly make it interesting, and for the second time in a week they needed a late third period goal to force overtime, taking advantage of an Eric Brewer turnover, and then receiving a game-winning goal in the extra period from their captain, Alex Ovechkin, to pick up a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The win, combined with Florida's embarrassing loss to Philadelphia, moves the Capitals back to within two points of the top spot in the Southeast division.

Unfortunately, the Capitals may have to be without defenseman Mike Green for a game (or more) if the NHL decides to suspended him for his elbow to the head of Lightning forward Brett Connolly in the second period.

Boston Bruins: If nothing else, Boston's 3-1 win over the Sabres on Thursday night was big because it gave the Bruins consecutive wins for the first time since January 10-12. It also allowed them to maintain their three-point lead over the Ottawa Senators in the surprisingly tight Northeast Division race.

Florida Panthers: Yeah, they're still in first place, but you have to wonder how much longer they can go on like this. With their 5-0 loss to the Flyers, combined with the Capitals win, gives them just a two point lead in the division, and for the season they've now been outscored by 26 goals.

How bad is that? The only teams that have been outscored by more goals this season are the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets.

That's not the type of company you want to be keeping at this point in the season.

Another slow start for the Phoenix Coyotes: The Coyotes are making it difficult on themselves. On Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild they found themselves in a 2-0 hole for the fifth consecutive game, and it shouldn't be much of a surprise that for the fifth straight game they ended up in the loss column. Granted, this one came in a shootout, 4-3, giving them a point in the standings, but they can't keep falling behind by two goals early in games.

It's hard enough to win that way in the NHL for any team, especially one that isn't really built to play from behind.

Anaheim Ducks: Bad night all around for the Ducks and their playoff chances. Not only did they lose to a Blues team that took over sole possession of the top spot in the NHL, a number of the teams they're chasing in the standings (Dallas, Phoenix, San Jose) gained a point. They're now back to being seven points out of the No. 8 seed.

Los Angeles Kings: The Columbus Blue Jackets continued their spoiler role on Thursday with a 3-1 win over a Los Angeles Kings that couldn't afford to drop a game to the worst team in the league, on the same night the Blue Jackets did their part to erase the memories of Jeff Carter's brief stay in central Ohio by replacing his nameplates on fan jerseys with Jack Johnson nameplates.

And speaking of Johnson, and adding insult to injury for the Kings, he managed to get some revenge on the team that trade him (for Carter) by scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal. The Blue Jackets have now won four consecutive games, something they had not done since November. Of 2010.

There haven't been many suspensions in the NHL over the past couple of months, but Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green may have given Brendan Shanahan a reason to fire up another one of his (now rare) disciplinary videos.

Late in the second period of Thursday's game against Tampa Bay, a pretty important game in the Eastern Conference playoff race, Green delivered an elbow to the head of Lightning forward Brett Connolly (as he was being held up by Dmitry Orlov), dropping him to the ice.

There was no penalty called on the play, but Green has been suspended previously in his NHL career, missing three games for elbowing Michael Frolik in the head last season.

After the game Connolly said that it was a hockey play by Green and that he put himself in a bad position. Lightning coach Guy Boucher, however, said that he feels the NHL needs to look at it.

"The league has to look at that. It's right at the head, the head's targeted. For me it's clear.

"The ref didn't see it. But you know, the refs are on the ice, they can't see everything. It happens so fast there's people beside them so I don't blame the refs. To me it could have been a five [minute major] and the head was targeted, it's clear. We just watched it on the video."

Players know that one of the cardinal sins in hockey -- and sports -- is touching officials in an aggressive manner. You just don't do it, it spells trouble every time.

As a result, we don't see it happen often. But it happened on Tuesday night. Twice.

One incident involved Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov after he and his teammates felt like he was slew-footed by Jeff Skinner of the Hurricanes. Tensions were high when the whistle blew and the scrum ensued, eventually Orlov shoves linesman Jean Morin who was trying to restrain Orlov.

Have a look.

Is it a lot? No, not really. But it still isn't tolerated by the league. It's a line that the NHL has to keep 100 percent clear and you would think this fits the bill. You'd think.

Then again, Bob McKenzie notes that Orlov was not written up for abuse by the linesmen, so that helps Orlov. That doesn't mean he is out of the woods, however. The league could still punish him in some way.

While the league looks at the Orlov incident you know that the Skinner slew foot will also be looked at. The NHL has been punishing players for that this season.

“We were going into the corner, I think he tried to sort of back up and I felt like he tried to come and hit me,” Skinner said after the game. “I think he may have slipped. I don't know. I looked at the replay when I was in the box and it sort of looked like I finished with my hands forward, but that was my momentum. I don't know. I think he just slipped.”

I can buy that, it doesn't seem completely malicious to me (everybody is bound to see that one differently). Apparently the league bought it too.

Sorry if late on this - no supplemental discipline for Jeff Skinner. NHL believes it was more trip than a slew-foot. Still waiting on Orlov.

The other player-official push last night came from renowned Predators pest Jordin Tootoo for a small cross check to the back of a linesman stepping between Tootoo and Matt Greene. Like Orlov, Tootoo was given a 10-minute misconduct but was not written up for abuse of the officials after the game.

It's pretty clear right away that Voracek was in some trouble, and that's Flyers analyst -- and former Flyers player -- Bill Clement asking where the freakin' whistle was as Voracek was on the ice trying to figure out what just happened to him.

There was no penalty called on the play, but it's pretty obvious that the head is the principal point of contact, which means it's definitely going to get a look from the NHL, especially since Voracek appeared to be injured as a result of the hit.

When defenseman Kris Letang had to leave Wednesday's game in Dallas after being on the receiving end of a big hit from Stars forward Eric Nystrom, the biggest concern for the Penguins had to be whether or not their best blueliner suffered another concussion. He's already missed more than 20 games this season due to one concussion, which came after a hit by Montreal's Max Pacioretty. The Penguins have had their share of concussion-related issues this season including injuries to Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy, Arron Asham and, as already mentioned, Letang.

Following Thursday morning's practice in Denver, where the Penguins will play the Avalanche on Saturday, coach Dan Bylsma revealed that Letang is in fact suffering from concussion symptons and will return to Pittsburgh on Sunday for more observation.

Nystrom received a two-minute for roughing on the play, and there was much debate as to whether or not he would face any supplemental discipline from the NHL. Brendan Shanahan, vice president of player safety, announced that Nystrom will not face any additional discipline.

Wrote Shanahan on his official Twitter feed, "Our view is that Letang lunges forward just prior to contact and although it appears that the chin is grazed by the side of Nystrom's arm, the right chest and shoulder of Letang remain the PPOC (principal point of contact)."

NBC's Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick were among the people debating (screaming at each is more like it) whether or not Nystrom should face discipline, and it's probably a shock to anybody that is familair with his opinions on these matters but Milbury was actually on the side of supplemental discipline. Roenick, however, wasn't hearing it as the video below (via wyshynski) shows:

It's a tough play to judge, and it's impossible to figure out what Nystrom's intent was, but it does seem a bit interesting that after facing mounting criticism earlier in the season for the number of suspensions he had been handing out during his first months on the job, the amount of supplemental discipline coming out of the NHL offices has slowed down considerably. You could argue that players cleaned up their act, but there have been plenty of examples of plays that drew punishment earlier in the season but have been overlooked in recent weeks and months.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic is the latest player who will not face a supplemental discipline hearing. An NHL source told CBSSports.com earlier on Wednesday that no hearing had been scheduled and Renaud P. Lavoie of RDS in Canada later reported that no hearing will be scheduled.

Late in the Sharks' 1-0 win on Tuesday night against the Flyers, Daniel Briere was chasing the dumped puck into the corner boards when Vlasic's contact from behind sent Briere head first into the boards and into a heap on the ice.

There wasn't even a minor called on the play, which turned out to be pretty key with the Flyers trying to score so late in the game. Briere didn't seem like the biggest fan of the play after the game (from the Philadelphia Daily News).

“I wasn’t expecting to be bulldozed there,” Briere said. “It was a dangerous play, there’s no doubt about it. Usually when you’re in a vulnerable position like that, guys will try to bear-hug you or go around you. It was scary. I think I got fortunate that it wasn’t worse than it is. I knew there was someone coming, but I just didn’t think I was going to get run over like that.”

Remember, Briere just came back from a concussion a few weeks ago. That had a few more people in orange and black holding their breath. But Briere did return to the game a short while later. It was a little surprising he didn't go to the quiet room considering his recent concussion and the fact that he admitted to reporters after the game that he was dizzy and a bit lost.

Back to the decision not to take any action from the league. While this one does not seem as egregious as others recently -- particularly the decision to do nothing to David Clarkson -- I thought there was a chance. We've seen similar calls this season. I can see the merits on either side of the equation in this one. It didn't seem particularly malicious from Vlasic and he did seem to slow down before impact.

It just seems like Brendan Shanahan has decided the first half of suspensions was enough, doesn't it? It seemed like every other day or even more often in the first few months there was a new suspension video from Shanahan. Now they've become as rare as Scott Gomez goals. There has only been one suspension handed down since Alex Ovechkin's just before the All-Star break, Minnesota's Warren Peters.

Has the play really been that much cleaner since the All-Star break? Did the message finally get through to the players? Well I haven't noticed as many bad hits so that's working, but only one play in more than a month that warranted a suspension?

I'm not going to make the leap here, I'll just say it's a little bit more intriguing to look back at the reports from earlier in the season about some GMs complaining about how tightly Shanahan's era was being run.

No league hearing has been scheduled today, although a call from Brendan Shanahan and/or a fine is possible.

The fact that Clarkson did not hit Dubinsky in the head will work in his favor. The incident took place at 19:27 of the second period with Clarkson getting a charging minor.

Dainius Zubrus did catch Carl Hagelin in the head during a second period roughing incident, but that won't come to much, either. Zubrus may also get a warning call from Shanahan.

Before going any further, here is the hit in question one more time.

I can't say I'm surprised there will be no suspension forthcoming for Clarkson. That's what I expected, honestly. But I'd lie if I said it doesn't upset me. I don't know why it actually angers me a little, I just know it does.

As the Ledger writes, "The fact that Clarkson did not hit Dubinsky in the head will work in his favor." Why is this so? Why should the result of the play have a bearing on this? Fact of the matter is that he tried to hit Dubinsky. What other explanation is there for his pole-vaulting technique that included a chicken wing. I don't think it was an attempt to fly.

This isn't an analogy I necessarily want to bring up but it is comparable in my mind -- on a basic level, nothing more. Imagine if somebody's attempt at murder doesn't go as planned. Would somebody get away with failing to execute their plan? Of course not. They would be locked up in jail. Just because they failed in doing so doesn't mean they didn't try to do so.

Again, I'm a bit loathe to make the comparison to murder. Change it to blackmail if you want, or any other crime that would fit. The point stands this is one of if not my biggest complaints about the punishment criteria right now. Brendan Shanahan has said that injuries don't factor into the decisions to suspend, just the sentencing, the length of the suspension. Well if the reason there was no suspension here is because there was no injury, then how can that be?

To be clear, for the most part I have objected very little to Shanahan's decisions this year and I have really appreciated the transparency. But this one bothers me.

The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils game on Monday was exactly what you thought it would be. It was physical, "chippy" and low scoring. That chippiness was particularly evident.

One of the fights in the game, a quick tilt between David Clarkson of the Devils and Brandon Dubinsky of the Rangers was set off by Clarkson's charge into Dubinski.

Well, technically it was a charge but it was more like a leaping elbow. Perhaps Clarkson was trying to audition for next year's dunk contest with this one, the NBA could use a fresh take.

Now I haven't been right on very many of these lately, I admit I'm beginning to get lost on what's OK and what's not, but this one has to be deserving of a review from the league, doesn't it?

This is a classic case of intent vs. result. It might not draw a whole lot of attention because it didn't harm Dubinsky on the play. There was very little actual contact. But man oh man it would be nearly impossible to believe that there was no intention from Clarkson.

I've never been comfortable in the process of punishing guys based on what they say their intent is. But sometimes it's so obvious what the intent is that it can't be ignored. He leaped about a foot off the ice and came with an elbow flying high. What else could he be trying to do there?

I fear this doesn't get a second look from the league because of the lack of injury. But there's no place for that, I don't care if he connected or not. Clarkson obviously tried.

What do you think, will Clarkson's hit be reviewed by the league? Should it? Those are obviously not the same question.